Historic Costume: 20th & 21st c. America & the UK: 1980s & 1990s

Fashion in the 1980s tended toward the functional and the formal. The typical "power dressed" woman of the period wore her shoulders wide, her skirts short, and her heels high, while sometimes colorful and relaxed men's fashions of the 1970s gave way to more conventional dressing. The year-by-year format of this book allows these developments to be shown in fascinating detail. Day and evening wear, sportswear, and accessories are included, and complete descriptions of each garment accompany the drawings. The reference section charts the evolution of fashion, and provides biographies of outstanding 1980s designers and a bibliography.

The Height of Fashion focuses on the charm and immediacy of snapshots and vernacular photography: a cross section of the famous and not-so-famous were asked for a photo that captured a moment when they were in the "height of fashion." The results range from the hilarious to the sublime but always intimate and original. The introduction reviews some incredible fashion moments of the last several decades and gives a peek into the psyche of those who were making fashion fabulous just by being themselves.

A compendium of ads from the period.

The Columbine High School massacre, Bill Clinton and the birth of the World Wide Web; Silicon Valley; Game Boy and PlayStation consoles with Super Mario, Gran Turismo, and Sonic the Hedgehog. The pornography industry grew as advertising became more explicit. Nirvana; Hummers; Gucci bags, Louis Vuitton totes, Hermes scarves, and Prada. Beanie Babies and Harry Potter engrossed the young.
Industries covered: Alcohol & tobacco; Automobiles; Business & industry; Consumer products; Digital technology & Electronics; Entertainment; Fashion; Food & beverage; Travel; Health & Beauty

Also available online, although advertising may be excluded.

Also available online, although online editions often exclude advertising.

Also available online through 2001, although online editions often exclude advertising.

Also available online from 1990 - 2012, although online editions often exclude advertising.

The photographs in Street were taken by Carrie Boretz in New York City from the mid-1970s through the 1990s. Boretz doesn't have a philosophy about shooting other than trusting her instinct: she saw, she shot, she moved on, always looking for moments that made her heart beat faster. It was the continual rush of knowing that at any time she could come upon something real and beautiful. That is why and how she shot and why and how her Street is so special.

Janet Delaney's Reagan-era photographs of mid-nineteen eighties San Francisco document a turbulent time, She leads us among demonstrators, fair-goers, cross-dressers, union organisers, beauty pageants, dancers, salesmen, mothers, kids, and market punters - documenting both intimate moments and collective voices. Delaney was there, in the middle of the maelstrom, making pictures of public matters." --Publisher's website

It was a scene that had many names: some original members referred to themselves as punks, others, new romantics, new wavers, the bats, or the morbids. "Goth" did not gain lexical currency until the late 1980s. But no matter what term was used, "postpunk" encompasses all the incarnations of the 1980s alternative movement. Some Wear Leather, Some Wear Lace is a visual and oral history of the first decade of the scene. Featuring interviews with both the performers and the audience to capture the community on and off stage, the book places personal snapshots alongside professional photography to reveal a unique range of fashions, bands, and scenes.

The Hungry Years collects the early photographs taken by Pierson throughout the 1980s, which, since they were first editioned in 1990, have increasingly captured the attention of the art world. Informed in part by his artistic emergence in the era of AIDS. Sometimes infused with a sly sense of humor, Pierson's work is inherently autobiographical; often using his friends as his models and referencing traditional Americana motifs.